One in three cars owned by Romanians is a Dacia model and one in ten is a Volkswagen, according to statistics of the Interior Ministry, with one in 16 Romanians owning a luxury car.
In the early 90s nearly nine in ten cars were manufactured by
Dacia in Mioveni or by Oltcit in Craiova, with the rest being
second-hand cars imported from Europe, and even fewer being new
cars, bought officially from Romanian-based importers.
At the time, the trend of official importers was started by Ion
Țiriac, who brought to Romania Mercedes-Benz and Ford brands,
followed by Michael Schmidt who brought BMW and Herbert Stein, with
the brands of the Fiat group.
The Romanian car fleet has this year reached over 4.2 million
vehicles, slightly down against 2009, amid the scrappage scheme,
but up by nearly 6% against 2008.
As the car fleet continued to rise, Dacia’s share in the overall
number of cars in Romania has been dwindling. For instance, whilst
in 2008 nearly one in two cars on the streets was a Dacia, now
nearly one in three is a Dacia.
In Romania there are over 680 luxury cars registered, whose price
exceeds 200,000 euros, at least 40 more than in 2009, reveals the
first analysis of the Romanian car fleet put together by ZF based
on data from the Department for Driving Licences and Vehicle
Registration (DRPCIV).